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orbitariums · 4 years

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𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 | 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝟐)

part one

hi everyone, thank you sososososooooo much for all the outreach, i really appreciate it!!! i may be making a second taglist, so look out for that if you didn’t get a chance to be added to the first one (tumblr has a tag limit but there r ways to work around it, that’s why i had a limit as well!!)

thank u for reading!! stay safe <3

taglist is closed!

playlist

word count: 7.3k

warnings: age gap, sex work, smut, dirty talk

𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 | 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 | 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬

Steve had never slept so well. He woke up that morning feeling like a brand new person. Rather than obsess over the meticulous, filthy details of the chat, which he knew would make him squirm now that he wasn't in the moment, he recalled the pleasure he felt and the relief he felt when he had finished. He thought about the connection he had made with you, how much he wanted to talk to you again, wanted to try another private session.

But of course he thought about the sexual aspect of it. How could he not? He had cyber sex with a stranger, a stranger who made him come twice in the span of half an hour. A stranger who he was incredibly attracted to, both physically and personality wise. He found it hard to grasp that you were so comfortable revealing yourself in such an intimate way to strangers online, especially the way you had last night.

And he admired it, even though it was so new to him. Because surprisingly, although he was the Captain America, quite literally the face of America, he could never be as bold as you -- sure, he had shared himself with you, but he was in his comfort zone and this was new to him.

You on the other hand, shared yourself with thousands of strangers every night. Morally, he wanted to question it - he grew up in a very conservative time period. But he couldn't, because he had taken part in it and he had so much respect for what you did... it took courage. He understood the whole female liberation thing and the fact that you were taking control of your own body. So, he loved this for you, and for everyone else who did this kind of work.

So the morning after that rare night, he found himself thinking only of you. In the shower, while he ran his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes, he got flashbacks to the way your robe opened as you slowly revealed your body. He felt himself get hard again, though this time he could find temporary release with just his hands, pumping himself to quick and easy release in the heat of his hot shower, throwing his head back and picturing your lips replacing his hands as he shut his eyes.

At briefings that morning, everyone noticed Steve's change in spirit. He was less antsy, less to himself. He even smiled a few times, even looked better, like he had actually slept. It was like a few months worth of stress and an urge for intimacy had been lifted off his shoulders.

"You look great Steve. Did you take my advice?" Tony asked after the briefing was over.

By the look on Tony's face, he already knew the answer to that question. Of course he hadn't heard Steve, the walls were soundproof (and for good reason, because if they weren't, he probably would've disturbed the whole tower), but he could sense it in how different he was acting.

"What advice?" Natasha looked over her shoulder, curious to know.

"Oh nothing, just guy stuff," Tony flipped his hand dismissively, and Natasha raised her brows,

"Do I even wanna know?"

Before Steve could answer, his cheeks getting red at the idea of getting found out, Tony replied with quickness,

"Last time I checked, I was just talking to Steve."

"Carry on with your very important, top secret conversation," Natasha joked, narrowing her eyes curiously at Steve and Tony before leaving the room.

"So. How was it?" Tony grinned, leaning in excitedly as he propped his legs up on the table.

Steve went silent for a few moments, a serious look on his face before he broke out into a relaxed grin,

"Honestly? It was amazing."

Tony slammed his hand down on the table in victory, a big grin taking over his features,

"Yes! That's what I'm talking about! I was hoping you'd enjoy it. I thought you might be a little prudish about it."

Steve ignored the offhand comment and just chose to focus on the positive, nodding slowly and folding his arms over his chest,

"I gotta thank you Stark. It definitely wasn't something I'd expect to be my thing, but I guess you learn something new about yourself everyday."

Steve surprised himself with that comment. Stark was actually right. Steve would've never in a million years thought he could be someone that would take part in anything revolving around cam girls, much less the action of masturbating with someone he hardly knew. He didn't even know it was a thing to begin with. He was both shocked, and a little anticipatory to see that he was actually learning new things about himself. He didn't expect that from him.

"My pleasure Steve, I take pride in my work," Tony replied, referring to his "therapy." A beat passed, and Tony exchanged an expectant look with Steve, who replied with a confused face, eyebrows furrowed together.

"What?" he asked, and Tony wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"You know..."

"I don't," Steve responded, raising a questioning brow. Tony rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat,

"The girl, genius. How was she? Who was she? What'd you do? All the details, my friend."

Steve gulped. He had been thinking of you all morning, but he hadn't spoken about you yet, and he was kind of glad he had someone to share the details with. Out of respect for you, he didn't want to get too descriptive, but he would at least share his feelings about you.

"Well, she was real sweet. Calls herself Moonrose Haze, such a pretty name. She's gorgeous, really enjoys what she does, which I liked about her. I really like her, you know? I think we had a real connection. I've been thinking about her."

"Yeah well, don't get too attached. You know how that can go," Tony patted Steve's shoulder, and he nodded understandingly.

Of course he knew that he couldn't get too attached. It could be dangerous for both you and him. For starters, you didn't know who he was for real, and he didn't need you knowing. And because he didn't know you in real life, he didn't want to get hung up on you. He already didn't have time for an actual relationship, bringing the internet into it would be a whole different thing.

He didn't want to get too sucked into it, he didn't want to be brainwashed into feeling strongly for you before he really knew you. But he didn't feel that way at all right now - right now it was more of a feeling that he was glad to know you, glad to have made the connection he made with you. He liked you, and you were on his mind, but he wasn't obsessed, wasn't unable to think straight. He just felt nice and warm inside, that's all. It wasn't anything serious, not yet.

"Yeah, I know. It's nothing to be worried about. I'm just glad to have met her, you know? She's so charismatic and hard working, she works two jobs outside of this one. I really like her personality. And we—" Steve cut himself off, starting to blush, unable to hide it on his fair cheeks.

Tony leaned forward, knowing this would include the gritty details,

"What?"

"We..." Steve looked down as to avoid eye contact with Tony, who chased it even while Steve stared down at his shoes. "We - well - she... helped me." Steve cleared his throat, feeling embarrassed to bring up the memories that made his entire body feel as if it were on fire. He continued, "Helped me, you know... (he lowered his voice here) get off."

"Yowza!" Tony hooted, and Steve's face could never be more red. "Steve, you truly surprise me everyday."

"It wasn't like anything I've ever experienced before," Steve said, a bit more composed now. "I mean, it was- it was... she was incredible. I know she's a performer, but it felt so real, so intimate. And I think she enjoyed it too."

"Wait, don't tell me she joined in on the fun," Tony raised his eyebrows, genuinely surprised, and Steve's head jerked up as he realized he had sort of revealed more details than he'd meant to.

"Well, we-" he began stammering, but Tony just cut him off with an impressed smile.

"My god. I would never expect it from you! Honestly, I'm proud of ya, Cap. You seem to be feeling much better now."

"I do," Steve answered with finality, and Tony nodded.

"Glad to see I could be of assistance. You can always come to me for these type of things you know. I've got all kinds of tricks up my sleeve."

Sure he does, Steve thought, watching as Tony walked out of the room. Now he was thinking of you once more - specifically when he would see you again.

✺ ✺ ✺

You started out your day not so different from Steve. You had great sleep that night, thanks to the powerful orgasm that practically lulled you to sleep, and thanks to meeting Steve. You liked him, too, thought about him with a smile on your face. You were in your apartment, a cheap, shabby apartment which you refurbished to your heart's delight, decorating with new furniture and plants however you could.

It wasn't the most luxurious space, but at least it was yours. And it was what you could afford living on your own in California, where you were from, and paying partially for your schooling. You made good money as a cam girl, but most of that went towards school and your clothing business. You were a busy woman.

As you logged on to girlsonfilm.com that morning to check stats and messages, you were met with memories from the night before. It was hot, sure, but you really, really liked Steve. You had lovely connections with some of your customers, but something about Steve was different. He was new, and almost naive, and had a personality you found adorable. He was mature and appropriate, and you liked that about him.

As always, you were careful. Being a cam girl meant you had to be safe and smart. With Steve, you felt secure enough, but you were always careful with new customers. Once again, it wasn't anything serious... yet. Still, you felt a little lighter on your feet throughout that day.

You were usually in good spirits, outgoing, determined and smiling, but today you just seemed a bit - lighter. Less worried about certain things like finances or your multiple jobs. It was your best friend, Aaliyah, who noticed the change in your demeanor. She tapped you on the shoulder as you sat in your last class of the day, which was at noon.

"Yeah?" you asked, turning your head towards her - you had been sort of looking out into the distance beforehand, thinking all those happy thoughts that stemmed from last night with Steve.

"Earth to YN? What's up with you, you're all... dreamy," Aaliyah hissed urgently, wanting to know everything.

You laughed, looking down at your desk and bringing your arms together, shrugging your shoulders up and down,

"Dude, relax. I just had really good sleep, I'm in a good mood."

"Bitch. I know you're lying, you're my best friend of seven years and you think I can't tell when you're lying? Who has you looking so incredibly happy right now? I need to know so I can threaten them if they ever hurt you!"

"Okay, the fact that you're already assuming it's a person is amazing," you chuckled, turning to face her, pushing your hair from your eyes.

Aaliyah knew how you felt about relationships - you weren't exactly looking for one as you were so busy to begin with, and you'd had bad experiences in the past. You pretended like they didn't hinder you, but pretending only worked for so long. But Aaliyah was always the first to ask about your relationship life anyway - she wanted to see you with somebody who would treat you right, the way you deserved.

"Well? Is it?" Aaliyah prodded.

"No," you shook your head a bit too strongly for Aaliyah to be convinced, and couldn't help but break into laughter at the way she glared at you, eyes narrowed and arms folded across her chest. "Okay, okay. I may or not have done a private session last night."

"Mhm," Aaliyah lowered her voice - she was the only person who knew of your secret job, and she took your privacy very seriously.

"Anddd, I may or may not have met a new customer," you continued slowly, Aaliyah repeating her hums. "And, we may or may not have... had sex? I don't know, it was - virtual, completely online."

"But, you do this often," Aaliyah replied, not understanding the depth of the situation because you often engaged in sexual acts for or with your customers in private sessions.

"Yes, but this time it was different. I felt like... I dunno, like my whole body was on fire. I felt like I was totally in control, and you know, I'm in control other times, but this guy didn't really know what he wanted, so I took the lead. And it was fucking great, I kid you not, I was shaking afterwards. It all just felt so visceral and so fucking real and so, so hot. And... it felt intimate."

"Woah, woah, woah, this is sensory overload right now," Aaliyah raised her brows, impressed with the story and with the person you were talking about. "Intimate how?"

"Like, I just felt really safe and connected with him. I was nervous, I wanted to keep him. I wanted to talk to him again. He was so polite and mature and so... just nice. Oh my god, and he tipped me like, hundreds. He was extremely generous."

Aaliyah was nodding, even more impressed,

"That's what I like to hear! What's his name? What'd he look like?"

"His name's Steve. And, I dunno what he looked like, he had his camera off. Probably some white dude, but honestly he was very handsome sounding. So like, a handsome white dude."

You sensed a shift in Aaliyah's nature, and looked over to her.

"What?" you whined.

"This man couldn't even turn his camera on while you were popping pussy for him? Yet y'all had an intimate connection?" she raised her eyebrows, very straightforward.

You pouted,

"Intimacy doesn't always have to have rules. I get a lot of customers who don't show their face. I'm sure he has his reasons. Besides, it was nice not to have a dick shoved into the camera for once."

The both of you chortled at that, but then Aaliyah went back to business.

"No camera on? He's married with kids."

You made a face and frowned, a crease showing up at your forehead,

"Don't say that! I like him."

Aaliyah let up a little, because she knew you were being serious, and leaned back in her chair.

"You like him?" she asked, and you nodded, biting your lip,

"Yeah."

"You really like him?"

You rolled your eyes,

"Asshole, I don't really like him. I just, think he's cool. And I'm glad we met."

"Okay, good to hear, 'cuz you don't know him and we don't wanna go too fast, girl. You've got options in real life," Aaliyah concluded, and you nodded,

"It's nothing serious. I just like him, that's all. And last night was nice, that's why I feel so refreshed today. You don't have to worry about me. This isn't gonna become like the movie Her."

"Ha," Aaliyah snorted, catching the reference. A beat of silence passed between the two of you, before you broke it suddenly by jerking your head to her to share an urgent detail you didn't want her to miss.

"He fucking came twice!" you whispered loudly. "In the span of thirty minutes!"

Your eyes were wide and brazen, and your lips were pursed tight. Aaliyah blinked slowly, taking in the information.

"Oh wow."

"I know. And his moans, oh my god. And he said his dick size was three fingers long," you held up your hand and cusped the three fingers you had used - ring, middle, and index. "Literally huge!"

"For your sake I hope it's true, if he's got you this hung up," Aaliyah smirked, and you laughed breathlessly, realizing how intense you had just gotten.

"My fault. Don't mind me," you returned to your work now that class was getting started, but the two of you were consumed with giggle fits.

✺ ✺ ✺

Steve actually had put you down on his calendar - mentally, at least. He obviously couldn't drop everything just to spend time with you, but the late times of your shows and his current availability made him feel inclined to use his free time to share with you, at least that week. He almost tried to downplay how much he wanted to see you again, how anticipating he was, because it wasn't like him to feel excited, to smile to himself at the thought of anything.

By the time you went on live again, on a Wednesday night, both you and Steve were filled to the brim with excitement. You wanted to talk again, and Steve wanted to see how you performed on a regular live. So that night, he took a shower, got tucked into bed like he had the last time, and signed on to girlsonfilm.com, which he typed into the browser with jittering hands. He was actually... excited. Something about this was giving him a taste of a feeling that was once rare.

He typed in your name at the search bar, not even taking a second glance at the other livestreams on the screen (more because he was avoiding looking at so many naked bodies at once). You had already started by the time he came on, and you'd been awaiting his arrival.

This time, your setup was different. You were in your "office", a small room in your apartment that served as a workspace for your clothing line, a homework/study area, and a place where you could do your work outside of school. But tonight, like many other nights, it operated as your cam room.

It looked like a strip club, complete with glowing neon lights that shifted colors, an assortment of heels and alcohol bottles behind you, and a disco ball hanging above your head. There was even a sign on the wall behind you that read your name in fancy writing. You leaned forward on your laptop to see who had signed in, a smile reaching your saccharine, glossy lips as the name you were waiting for popped up on screen.

"Steve!" you cooed girlishly, pushing your hair behind your ear subconsciously - you wanted him to see your face. "How are you?"

Steve, who was figuring out the chatroom, commented below in response, eager to hear your voice. A grin had made its way onto his face at the sound of your excitement to see him.

Steve - GrantRoberts

Hi. I'm great, how are you?

You bit down on your lip, intoning,

"Well, better now you're here! Guys, this is Steve, he's new here. Say hi."

Steve skimmed past the comments from her devoted customers saying hello, and you continued with your show, seeming oodles happier now that Steve was on. You already gave it your all, now you would give your all and more.

Steve didn't even need you to do that much to sate him though - looking at your skimpy outfit was enough. You were dressed in a sheer, glittery white lace corset that highlighted all of your assets, with garters on your silky thighs to match.

Then you were wearing these insanely long stripper heels, and boy did Steve have a thing for heels- you wearing them made him nearly salivate. Your lips were painted a sultry red and the rest of your makeup was dewy and glittery, with gems and glitter dust stuck to the sides of your eyes.

You looked ethereal, and the lucid background just made things even better. He was already hard upon looking at you, especially when you shimmied up close to the camera and showed your entire body, your hands running up your thighs and sides in slow motion.

"You guys like my outfit?" you smirked, twirling slowly for the camera. "You know, I love being a dancer, but I get so lonely sometimes. All these guys coming through, but no one to really pleasure me. You know?"

Steve swallowed hard. You were talking to everyone on the live, but looking directly into the camera, an intense look in your eyes. Tonight you were playing out the recurring strip club fantasy, which lots of your customers enjoyed - Steve was new to the whole thing, but he got the gist and story line right away. How could he not with how intensely he was focusing?

You laughed a little, a sultry but brief laugh that made shivers run up Steve's spine. Right now, though you were glad Steve was there, you were in full work mode, pulling all the levers. You were focused, and Steve knew that you weren't only occupied with him. But he even liked that, liked your work ethic and your ferocity.

"I guess I was just wondering if one of you were man enough to take me," you continued, starting to really pile on the dirty talk and the persona.

You kept showing different angles of your body, letting your customers admire you. You turned around, strutting slowly, one leg in front of the other, your heels hitting the ground. Steve's eyes widened at the shape of your ass as you faced the other way, head tilting as he admired your features.

He wasn't the kind of guy to worry about a girl's body type much, and he certainly didn't only focus on your body, but how could he not in this case? You were drawing attention to your every asset, and he was realizing just how much he liked them on you.

Then you slowly twirled around, facing the camera again and lowering yourself down on your knees. You pouted softly, as if you were feeling conflicted.

"But, I haven't seen anyone here who's man enough to take care of me. I have needs too," you sighed, looking down at your nails, which, perfectly, were long and glittery acrylics. "Gosh, and the pay here is lousy. Some guys are so cheap, you wouldn't even believe it."

Kaching. Tokens being added left and right after you said that. You smirked, gazing into the camera for one minute, Steve catching your pixelated gaze, before you kept going. Steve added tokens as well, probably more than all that had been added in that moment. He was impressed by your strategies, and he knew that paying would make things progress.

"I'm just so lonely and bored sometimes," you slowly removed the straps of your corset, revealing your chest. You ran your hands along the lace that was still over your breasts, licking your bottom lip. "Hmm. But I think I'll need more help to remove my top.

More tokens. More talking, more tokens. And soon enough, you had taken off the corset (garters left on, as per special request from many of your customers), and you were naked in front of the camera. Steve felt himself throbbing beneath his boxers, and stroked his length over the fabric.

"Wow, you guys are great," you cooed. "And so much better than some of the other guys who come through here. But not good enough. Poor old me, looks like I'll have to pleasure myself, hmm?"

You wiggled your eyebrows up and down as comic relief while you opened and closed your legs very quickly, giving just a peek of what you knew they all wanted to see.

Ashton — asherw9 guyz, she clearly needs help spreading her legs. can we all do better? + 10 tokens

You giggled,

"Thank you Ashton. I really do need help spreading my legs for you, so I can get all nice and ready. So, tokens or bust."

Soon enough, you had them voting on toys to use as you went through an assortment. All of them were glass dildos with different designs. Each vote was a certain amount of tokens, and they eventually came to a consensus. Steve only voted so he could pay you, he had no idea what he actually wanted to see, nor any idea of how dildos differed from one another.

You smiled when you saw that he had voted, raising your brows at the option he had chosen,

"Steve, you naughty boy. You wanna see me use the biggest one?" Steve blushed— he didn't know any better. But you were smiling, and reading the other options. "It looks like a lot of you wanna see me use the big one. I'll give you like, another minute to decide."

A flood of votes came in and you read them over, smiling as you held up the biggest option.

"This one it is!"

And there you were, giving a tease show as you danced sensually on the floor, wrapping your body around as you removed the bottom half of the corset. Soon enough, your entire body was completely revealed and you were spreading your legs open, your fingers dancing along your clit as you prepared yourself. Soft but sultry music played in the background, but all Steve could hear was the sound of your progressing pants and moans, which were soft and quiet.

He had his hand wrapped around himself, finally out of his boxers, and he was stroking at the same pace that you were circling your clit with your fingers. He spread the precum peeking out from his tip down his erect length, pumping himself slowly as he watched you. He let out a strangled moan as you diligently slid two fingers inside of yourself, your face contorting as you felt them against your walls, reaching all the right spots.

"I'm so fucking wet," you whined, pumping your fingers in and out faster now. You were even more getting tokens and comments by the minute, Steve being the best contributor as he could with only one hand available.

He felt a hint of shame pang in his chest as he realized what he was doing — pleasuring himself online to someone who was doing the same thing for the hundreds of others watching. But in your case, it was for work. For a moment, he almost felt like a perverted loser, pumping himself to you in the dark — but he bounced back after remembering who he was, and after feeling himself throb inside his hands. He wanted to be able to enjoy himself, he shouldn't make himself feel guilty about it, so long as it was rightfully done.

You sighed loudly as you transitioned from using your fingers to the dildo.

"Guys, this thing is huge," you giggled slightly, but that giggle morphed into a pleasantly surprised moan as you began to slide it inside of you. Your slick arousal coated the toy instantly, making it much easier. Your face said it all, as did the whiny pitch in your voice. "Oh fuck."

Steve couldn't control himself. He came quickly once again, but continued stroking himself as you continued. And once again, his release felt cathartic, like he was filling in something that he had long been missing, and only you could bring him to this point. He couldn't do this himself before, not without you.

He wanted so badly to be in a private room with you, to share this moment with you and only you, where you could hear his voice and he knew the two of you were alone. But he knew this would have to do for now, his hands working his cock as he watched you thrust the dildo in and out, your moans growing louder and less contained.

You watched the dildo disappear in and out of you, slipping in with ease because of how wet you were. The sounds it made were criminal and arousing, sounds of your slick against your walls. Your mouth fell open in an o-shape as you watched how well you took it despite its size, admiring of yourself and even more turned on, pushing it deep inside of you.

"Fuck, it feels so good, I'm so fucking wet," you whined, biting down hard on your lip, closing your previously ajar mouth.

Steve watched how well you took it with eyes that were glazed over, wishing it was him instead of a glass toy, wishing he could stretch you out and be that deep inside of you. He groaned to himself, mumbling expletives as he felt his orgasm build up.

"Oh my god, I'm close," you groaned some time later. You threw your head back, bringing your hand to your clit to assist your orgasm. You had been going at it for the past fifteen minutes, putting off your orgasms until you couldn't any longer. Steve was mesmerized, fists practically clenched around himself as you brought yourself to climax. "I want you to cum with me," you moaned. "Oh fuck, yes."

Your moans nearly became shouts as you came, toes curling in your six inch heels. You tried to grip the carpet around you, but to no avail, and you found yourself coming recklessly while the dildo was still inside of you, taking it out just moments after your orgasm began.

You were dripping all down your legs and thighs, the spot on the carpet beneath you completely drenched in your arousal. Steve had came again, and again, his cock twitching and spurring at the sight of you. The longer you rode out your high, the longer Steve rode out his — and needless to say, he could keep up.

You took in deep breaths as you got caught up, leaving your legs spread for your viewers' pleasure. As per one request, you lead your fingers to your slick heat, spreading yourself open so everyone could see, a smirk on your face.

Once Steve had come down, he decided to type something in the chat.

Steve - GrantRogers

Thank you, this was wonderful.

You snorted at Steve's response — always so polite and proper. You closed your legs and crawled up closer to the camera so they could only see your face and your upper half.

"I hope you guys liked that. I don't think I've ever used that one before, but trust me, I will be using it again. Thanks for the suggestion," you winked. "You can join me next week for a giveaway! I'll be selling my panties, those purple butterfly ones you guys love so much?"

You watched as the comments flooded with praise and excitement, and chuckled,

"Yeah, those. So check in next week on how to enter, rules and more. I hope you guys enjoyed today, thank you so much for being the most beloved members of my little strip club here. See you later!"

Easily, you blew a kiss to the camera, and ended the show. At first, Steve was a little bummed. He was hoping for another private session, so he could talk to you a little more. But he understood that it wouldn't be today, and started to exit out of the site until he heard a ping! notification. He looked on the upper right corner of the screen to see that he had a new message.

moonrose — moonrosehaze hey! got a minute? click the link in the chat if you do!

Steve slowly clicked the link, hoping that it was what he was expecting and not some type of scam. And luckily, it was — it rerouted him to the same link as last time, giving him the option to hide his video and only use audio. He chose that option and you showed up on screen, in a silk pajama top and shorts, still in the same room as before, just not in the act anymore. Once he saw you, he grinned, and you smiled as well when he joined.

"Hey!" you exclaimed excitedly. "How are you?"

You typically didn't do this - usually customers reached out to you, not the other way around. But just because you weren't offering private sessions tonight didn't mean you couldn't still talk to a client. Especially a client who you happened to really like. And of course, the two of you were being careful, precautions still fresh in your mind. But you were enjoying your time together so far in this excited new beginning. There were no red flags and nothing to be worried about.

Steve laughed, his voice deep and almost cloudy - after coming down from two orgasms he felt dreamlike. His voice was warm and inviting, and you felt that awfully familiar buildup of an orgasm in your stomach, though it wasn't the same. Maybe more like butterflies, except instead of just being nervous, you were both nervous and turned on.

"Hi," he crooned, feeling his cheeks warm up at the sight of you. You were so enchanting and bright, even if you were behind a screen. You had a youthful glow that made you look and feel genuinely happy and vivacious. Even after just a few days, he found himself admiring you, and not just for your sexual prowess. "I'm great, how are you? You were amazing, by the way. That was... I've never seen anything like that before."

You giggled, appreciative of his constant praise, but it raised the question,

"I can't thank you enough. You've watched porn before though, right?"

At first, you thought Steve's innocence was only unique to cam sites, but now you were starting to question just how experienced he really was with this world. He seemed to know how to tip, and tipped very well. As for talking to you, he was charming and polite thus far, so he seemed to know how to interact with women who had jobs like yours - you hoped he was this kind universally, and not just to you. You hoped you knew him, the little bit that he was showing, not just a version of him that he was pretending to be.

Steve shifted a bit, smiling shyly to himself,

"Not really... do I sound that clueless?"

"No," you giggled, shaking your head, but he could tell you were just being coy, which made him smile.

"Be honest," he prodded you, and you laughed louder,

"Yeah, a little. But don't feel bad! That's a first. Usually guys your age are well versed in this sort of thing. It's... kind of sweet. And I like that you're new to this. It makes it easier to get you excited," you veered into flirting with him again, smiling gently into the camera.

"Oh yeah?" Steve questioned playfully, and you nodded.

"Oh, for sure. Listen, I'm really tired from my show so I can't promise anything like what I just did, but if you want me to pose for you or..."

You trailed off, but Steve was quick to jump in, shaking his head. He didn't expect anything from you at the moment, although he wouldn't mind, but if you were tired, then you knew your limits, and he didn't want to push them for his own sake. He knew it was your job, but he still had his own sense of morals.

"No, no, it's okay, hon'. You worked really hard just now, don't feel pressured to do something for me just because. It's nice to just talk to you anyway, you didn't even have to do this," Steve said calmly, and you felt your heart warming more and more with every word he spoke, especially when he called you "hon" — he gave you the energy of such a kind older man.

Of course Steve wanted to see something from you again - of course he'd cherish it, die for it. But he had been sated for the night, and talking to you was enough. Still in the back of his mind he questioned whether he should be talking to you like this at all - it was the second night you had spoken. But he pushed those doubts to the back of his mind for now - not now Steve, not now, he thought.

"Aww, thank you," you pouted out of happiness and appreciation.

He acknowledged how hard you worked, and the fact that it was hard work. And he didn't have to be so gracious about it, so appreciative and the way he was. You were almost glad he just wanted to talk, even though you would've been willing to at least pose for him or dirty talk him to climax once again. What you'd do to hear his moans and hear his gruff voice in particular.

You continued,

"I'm... I'm glad you liked the show. I'm glad you came, honestly. I know we've only talked once but I like you. I feel like we connected immediately."

Steve felt an unfamiliar pang in his chest that he brushed off as the typical butterflies that were spreading. He already addressed that this entire thing made him nervous in general, but he didn't think anything more of it.

"We did. Somehow, someway," he chuckled a bit awkwardly, and you smiled at his shy nature. "I'm— I'm really glad I came to. I was looking forward to this."

"So how was your day?"

"Honestly? I've been so much better since the last time. I mean, you really helped out. I feel like..." Steve took a deep sigh. "Like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders, y'know? What about you?"

"I know the feeling. I sort of felt the same way. Huh. Gosh, it's weird, it's not like we're-" you decided not to finish your own sentence, laughing as you brushed it off as silly. "Anyway. Today was great. Yeah."

"Yeah? You uh... take any classes today?" Steve asked, recalling how you told him about your life as a student and as an artist. He cringed internally at how awkward he was being. There was still that spark, but the two of you were both resisting conversation because you didn't want to face the reality of establishing a relationship with each other, even if it was just client to camgirl. It felt more personal. "I'm sorry," he chuckled to himself. "I'm not great with small talk."

"I mean, I'm sure - if I were a scientist, I'd want to be talking about, like, I don't know - nuclear physics. Environmental studies doesn't quite feel like your area of science," you giggled, and Steve remembered (though he hadn't forgotten) how he had passed himself off as a scientist. Maybe more of a scientific experiment, but it couldn't hurt to say he was a scientist, could it? He was surrounded by them after all.

Steve laughed, shaking his head,

"You'd be surprised how much I don't wanna talk about nuclear physics half the time. Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah," you propped yourself up, wanting to know what he wanted to know about you.

"You like this, right? Like, being, well-"

"A cam girl?" you furrowed your brows together and laughed, shaking your head playfully. "You can say it, don't worry, I don't bite. But uh, wow, I guess no one's really ever asked me that on here. I do, actually. I think a lot of girls on here like this job, but I really love it. It feels liberating, which is great. But it also pays my bills. So it's a balance between the two. I can kind of be whoever I want on here."

"So in real life, Moonrose is... not a thing," Steve concluded, and you shifted. "If you don't mind me asking." He just wanted to understand the dynamics of this job, how you worked the ins and outs - almost like an agent. You weren't that different from his colleagues.

Usually you'd be a bit more hesitant to answer such a question, but Steve made you feel comfortable.

"It's perfectly okay. I'm still the same girl, you know? So it's very much a thing, it feels like Moonrose is... a part of me. But it's just not the same way it feels on here, if that makes sense. It's an act, but it's really... just me."

"I like that. And I like that you enjoy your job."

"Now, can I ask you a question?"

A pause, then Steve answered. It couldn't be that bad.

"Sure," he nodded.

"Okay," you bit down on your lip. "What made you choose me?"

You hated that question - "what made you choose me?" It left a bitter taste in your mouth. So many times, in your relationships in real life, you felt like you had to ask that question to get reassurance. To feel supported. But with Steve, it was obviously different. And right now, asking that question didn't feel so bad. You didn't feel like because he chose you, you were special. You felt like you were special before he even chose you.

Steve grinned,

"Honestly, I had been scrolling for a while, but none of the other girls stood out for me. And I came across you and you were smiling and you seemed happy. You talked to your customers like they were your fans. You just made it look so charming and graceful. It felt genuine."

"Thanks, I try. Well, I'm glad we crossed paths. It's nice talking to you, even if it's not for a private cam. I hope that doesn't make you uncomfortable, doing this-"

"No, no, not at all. I was hoping I'd get to talk to you too, so."

"Oh," you chuckled— you nearly snorted, pushing your hair back and laughing in tandem with Steve. Your awkward moments together were actually fitting and charming, and didn't feel "awkward" at all. You presented as confident, sexy and seductive Moonrose, but Steve brought out the dork in you, made you feel less like Moonrose and more like YN, in the best way ever. "Cool."

Steve liked this. He reveled in the quiet for a moment, just looking at you, your skin glowing, teeth showing when you smiled, everything about you was evocative. But he looked at the time, realizing he had briefings in the morning.

"Well, unfortunately, it looks like I gotta go. Got... labs in the morning, and stuff."

"Oh, yeah for sure, no, go ahead. Gotta get your sleep."

"You too," he encouraged you, almost like a protective figure. "Get some rest."

"Thanks." You took in a deep breath and took the leap you'd been wanting to take the whole call. You loved talking to Steve, but you had been thinking about what Aaliyah had said. You didn't feel as bothered by it as she had, but you figured it was worth a try. You could see if anything would change. And maybe it wasn't an "appropriate" statement, but you were taking a leap of faith. "Wish I could see you. You know, through your camera?"

At first, Steve's heart dropped. He definitely couldn't commit to that. But he knew it was fine, he didn't have to commit to anything at all. He just chuckled,

"Oh, not this time."

You nodded gently, understanding. It was like you told Aaliyah, plenty of customers didn't use their cameras. But you wished you could see Steve, see the face that matched that enchanting voice and those lovely words.

"I understand. Well, I'll see you... or, hear you, next time?"

"Yeah, doll. See you."

And with that, he ended the session, and closed his laptop. Much to think about. And all of it revolved around you.

ahh how are we feeling!! i made their dialogue a leeetle bit awkward bc i didn’t wanna make it super mushy. it’ll be slow burn but not agonizingly slow jus wait on itttt!!! let me know your reactions!!! tags will be linked in a reblog :)

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers reader insert #steve rogers series #girls on film #orbitariums #captain america #captain america x reader #captain america imagine #captain america smut #smut #marvel #marvel imagine #marvel smut #chris evans #steve rogers #steve rogers x y/n #reader insert #marvel series

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noaasanctuaries · 5 years

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We’re gonna need a bigger boat

Gentle giants return to Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

Spring is notoriously windy along the coast of California. Strong northwest winds can cause hazardous sea states to crop up out of nowhere, especially in the Santa Barbara Channel. But as dawn broke on a crisp April morning, the first rays of light revealed a glassy, calm channel. Not so much as a ripple disturbed the surface. These were perfect conditions for spotting one of the most elusive visitors to the channel’s waters: basking sharks.

Most mariners aren’t actively looking for giant, fearsome-looking marine creatures. But researchers from NOAA’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary set out with – and accomplished – one goal: to put satellite tags on the gentle giants once seen in great numbers roaming the rich waters of the Santa Barbara Channel.

Prior to this, only four tags had been deployed on basking sharks in the eastern North Pacific and none had been deployed since 2011, despite many hours on the water. In recent years, basking shark sightings off of California have been rare, further complicating efforts to better understand these mysterious animals. With not one, but two, sharks tagged, this collaborative effort between NOAA scientists from the sanctuary and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center will bolster our understanding of these visitors to Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.

A basking shark swims near Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary's R/V Shearwater. Photo: Pike Spector/NOAA

“The sanctuary is home to a number of really amazing pelagic species and most people don’t realize massive basking sharks are right in their backyard,” says Ryan Freedman, a researcher at Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. “However, as more people see these cool fish, we need to ensure the public views them responsibly. The first shark we saw had obvious boat propeller scars on its dorsal fin. It is critical for our communities to protect and support this species of concern.”

Basking sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, are often mistaken for white sharks due to their large size and similar body coloration. Despite their appearance, these sharks are often shy and skittish, and typically avoid interacting with mariners. Basking sharks are the second largest sharks in the world, measuring up to 30 feet as adults, about as long as a school bus. Like whale sharks and unlike white sharks, these gentle giants filter feed on dense clumps of copepods, tiny crustaceans about the size of a grain of rice. Basking sharks tend to aggregate where oceanographic conditions act to concentrate their zooplankton prey, and are seen seasonally in temperate regions of both the North Atlantic and Pacific.

youtube

This basking shark was seen feeding in the early evening hours in the Santa Barbara Channel on April 7, 2019. The shark was filmed with a drone while it swam close to the surface. Video: Kristin Campbell/Newport Coastal Adventure

Despite their grand size and habit of swimming at the surface (hence the name “basking shark”), sightings of the population in the eastern Pacific declined in the latter half of the 20th century. In the mid-1900s, basking sharks were targeted in a number of fisheries in the eastern and western Pacific and were also killed in an eradication program in Canada to keep them from destroying fishing gear. Other individuals were killed as bycatch. While targeted fisheries in the Pacific ended decades ago, basking shark fins have a high value in Asian markets, creating an incentive for landing them and concern about continued fisheries mortality.

Due to concerns about the population, NOAA designated basking sharks in the eastern North Pacific a “species of concern” in 2009. At that time, NOAA scientists initiated a research program including a sightings database and an opportunistic tagging program to collect data on movement, behavior, and habitat use to support management. Scientists currently don’t understand how changes in environmental conditions may impact basking sharks, or even where the North Pacific population goes when they’re not along the West Coast. Do they swim to Japan? To Ecuador? Do they stay on the surface or do they forage at deeper depths? Our scientists are hoping to answer these questions, and more, with the help of satellite tags.

The NOAA team prepares to tag a basking shark near Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Photo: Pike Spector/NOAA

The pop-up satellite archival tags deployed by sanctuary personnel will remain secured to the sharks for up to 240 days, and will collect data on temperature, depth, and sunlight. After 240 days, they are programmed to release from the sharks, float to the surface, and transmit their data to satellites. Using the transmitted light data NOAA scientists can recreate the sharks’ movements. In addition, temperature and depth data provide insight into the sharks’ behavior and habitat use throughout the recording period.

“These data will help fill gaps in our understanding of basking sharks’ stock structure, their overlap with fisheries, and how oceanography influences the species’ distribution. All of this information is vital for the continued management and conservation of these poorly understood sharks,“ says Dr. Heidi Dewar of NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Ryan Freedman prepares to tag a basking shark while Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary research operations specialist Lizzie Duncan documents. Photo: Pike Spector/NOAA

During the tagging event, Freedman and his team were also able to get two genetics samples. While collecting genetic material often requires a biopsy, DNA can be extracted from the shark’s mucus, a slimy coating on the surface of their skin. Until now, studies of basking shark genetics have excluded the eastern North Pacific because of a lack of samples. As with the tagging effort, genetic studies will provide valuable insight into stock structure both within the North Pacific and globally, and can also be used forensically to identify fins in the market.

Because of their elusive nature and the challenge of getting access to sharks for research, the only way this program works is by building a network across NOAA agencies and by working with the public. With these efforts, NOAA scientists are one step closer to unraveling the mysteries surrounding these charismatic creatures.

How you can help

Always use appropriate ocean etiquette when encountering marine life. If you see a basking shark, slow down to avoid hitting them with your vessel. They are easily injured and are susceptible to vessel collisions.

In areas with basking sharks:

Slow down to six knots and avoid sudden changes in direction or speed.

If you’re within 300 feet of a basking shark, switch your engine to neutral.

Swim in small groups and do not closely approach basking sharks.

If you see a basking shark, please provide the date, time, and location of the sighting, as well as any comments, to 858-546-7023 or email [email protected]. Any photos or video would also be appreciated.

Collaborators

The mission of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center is to generate the scientific information necessary for the conservation and management of the region’s living marine resources.

Through research, education, outreach, and marine resource protection, NOAA's Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary helps protected species and their marine habitats.

#basking shark #shark #sharks #ocean #science #research #stem #noaa #california #southern california #channel islands #news

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lamarbuyshouses · 6 years

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Beto Bets on the Border

Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald via AP

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Beto Bets on the Border

Will showing up with a high-minded call for border solidarity translate to the historic levels of Latino turnout that O'Rourke needs?

–

by Justin Miller August 24, 2018

After winning the Democratic primary for Beto O'Rourke's congressional seat, his friend and political ally Veronica Escobar, an exuberant former El Paso County judge, began planning a four-day “Border Surge” bus tour to spread the gospel of Beto in the Texas borderlands, where he struggled in the primary.

The goal of the tour, which wrapped up this week, was to knock on thousands of doors and kick off a fevered get-out-the-vote push that will increase Democratic voter turnout in the 32 border counties by 15 percent. That lofty feat would bring in 170,000 new votes and, Escobar hopes, help put O'Rourke over the top in November.

In order to come even close to winning, O'Rourke needs to do a hundred different things that Democrats have failed to do in the past. That includes achieving record levels of turnout in the Rio Grande Valley, one of the largest- and fastest-growing pockets of Latino voters in the nation - and an area notorious for low voter participation.

After years of Republicans (and some Democrats) using the U.S.-Mexico border as a punching bag for their war on immigration, O'Rourke and his allies are hoping that a high-minded call for border community solidarity from El Paso to Brownsville - 825 miles to the southeast - will resonate with voters.

Veronica Escobar, who will likely become the first Latina elected to Congress from Texas, has made increasing turnout for O'Rourke along the border her personal mission. Justin Miller

With less than two months until early voting begins, O'Rourke's most recent campaign swing came with a sense of urgency.

The Observer tagged along with Escobar's “Border Surge” bus tour, which included rallies and blockwalking in Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville, to see what O'Rourke and his allies are doing to reach out to Latino voters and jumpstart turnout in one of the most crucial regions for statewide campaigns.

'He's the male Ann Richards'

Just weeks after launching his presidential bid by calling Mexicans “rapists,” Donald Trump flew to Laredo to preach about the dangers of illegal immigration and promote his border wall plan. Surrounded by a security detail, Trump claimed that he came to the Texas border city at great risk to his personal safety.

Three years later, Escobar and a busful of about 30 volunteers - mostly older women, all without a single bodyguard - survived the harrowing 10-hour journey from El Paso to Laredo for the first stop in her “Border Surge” tour.

With the 100-degree heat lingering into the evening, hundreds of Laredoans flock into the Casablanca Ballroom to hear from O'Rourke as he makes his eighth trip through the city. “He's the male Ann Richards as far as charisma goes. And the South Texans loved Ann Richards,” former Webb County Judge Mercurio Martinez tells me. “He wins over every person he talks to.”

The statewide Democratic ticket has tagged along for O'Rourke's swing through Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville. They deliver a series of long-winded stump speeches like an amateur warm-up act killing time before the headliner, who's speeding down I-35 from an afternoon event in San Antonio.

You can feel the crowd turn electric when O'Rourke and his entourage enter the hall. He hangs off to the side, greeting supporters and taking photos as Cristela Alonzo, a comedian and TV star from Hidalgo County and Beto's travel companion through the Valley, warms up the crowd.

Then he jumps on stage and delivers a speech in his hallmark style - stream-of-consciousness, but remarkably coherent. He touches on everything from family separations, Dreamers and health care to veterans and ending ongoing wars to Trump's “collusion in action in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin.” He's often at his most candid when talking about growing up in El Paso and about the tragedy of family separations.

As a native El Pasoan and close friend of O'Rourke's for about 20 years, this campaign is personal for Escobar. “I feel that we are giving [the state] our best. He is a son of the border,” she says. But she worries about the prospect of O'Rourke losing because of dismal border turnout. Political analysts point to early indications that, even in the Trump era, Latino turnout is likely to dramatically fall off like it has in previous midterm cycles. And in a cycle that's focused on flipping suburbs, many Democratic groups have, once again, failed to prioritize Latino outreach. “Shame on us if that were to happen,” she says. “That would send a really terrible message to the White House, to state leaders, to Republicans, to all those who demonize us that we're OK with it and that it doesn't bother us.”

'This election could be decided by the person whose door you knock on'

On a steamy Saturday morning, O'Rourke climbs onto a stone ledge at a park in north Laredo to present to a crowd of about 60 volunteers his romantic belief in the power of blockwalking. “They may not see the TV ads that we've got running now, they may not hear the radio spot that might play on their way home from work. They will remember that you took the time this morning … to listen to them.”

Even as his campaign starts to ramp up more traditional modes of outreach, he has no intention of de-emphasizing this cornerstone of his DIY campaign. “In the closest Texas Senate election in decades … this election could be decided by the person whose door you knock on.”

O'Rourke's crowd sizes keep getting bigger with each pass through a town. Justin Miller

Using Polis, the campaign's voter database app, which provides a real-time map of low-frequency Democratic voters, Escobar goes from house to house in Laredo's middle-class Hillside neighborhood. It takes a minute to get her bearings, briefly walking the wrong way as she tried to find a street. “This is the problem with door-knocking in a city you don't know,” she says. Another problem: It's hard to convince unlikely voters to vote when they don't answer the door. For the 45 minutes I tagged along, she knocked on about a dozen doors and got answers at only one or two. She'd leave a handwritten note, hoping that might help.

Tagging along with Escobar is Sergio Mora, a former Webb County Democratic Party chair. The enthusiastic crowd at last night's event makes him think change just might be afoot in Laredo. But is there any other evidence that voters are unusually fired up. He shrugs. “That's the big experiment this cycle.”

One El Paso volunteer tells me that most people who answered their doors in Laredo had never heard of O'Rourke and many had no intention of voting.

'This is a powerfully sacred place to me'

The 150-mile stretch of remote highway between Laredo and McAllen has lots of big ranches, wind turbines and Border Patrol agents, but not much in the way of voters. The “Border Surge” bus skips past Zapata, Jim Hogg and Starr Counties, roaring on to Brownsville. Meanwhile, O'Rourke stops off for his sixth visit to McAllen, the seat of Hidalgo County. It's the epicenter of the Valley, where the number of registered voters has more than doubled since 2000 to about 330,000.

Several hundred supporters packed Cine El Rey, a downtown theater, to capacity with even more folks filing into the restaurant next door to watch him via livestream. O'Rourke tells reporters before his speech that the Valley often feels like the center of the universe to him. “This is a powerfully sacred place to me.”

While he's cast himself as an unsullied ally of the border, O'Rourke's voting record includes a wrinkle or two. Pressed by a local reporter on whether his controversial vote for an appropriations bill that put at risk the future of the local Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, he performed an uncharacteristic punt. He says he's “working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle. We're doing everything we can to stop that [from being constructed].”

With that, O'Rourke was whisked away by his aides.

'People always call Brownsville and the Valley 'the sleeping giant”

The hour-long drive through the suburban sprawl of chain restaurants and shopping centers between McAllen and Brownsville is a reminder of the Valley's rapid growth - even as climate change and urbanization put the Rio Grande at risk.

On the border by the Gulf, Brownsville is the heart of Cameron County. O'Rourke very nearly lost here to Sema Hernandez, an unknown Houston activist, and now needs the area to turn out for him in huge numbers. This is his sixth visit to Brownsville.

At his third and final event during his Valley swing, hundreds pile into the sweaty Tex-Mex Nightclub on a frontage road off Interstate 69 to hear O'Rourke deliver another barn-burner. Afterwards, as he wends his way through the crowd to get outside, greeting well-wishers and selfie-seekers, he emphasizes the importance of the RGV to his statewide strategy. “It's everything. It's everything,” ticking off how many times he's been to Laredo, McAllen, Brownsville and other Valley towns.

O'Rourke's rallies often feel like an alternate universe. People are filled with hope, their Texas cynicism washed away. It's a place where anything - a post-partisan reckoning, a surge in Valley turnout and yes, even a Democrat winning statewide - seems possible. Life is sweet at a Beto rally. But outside that bubble, the feeling can get quickly wiped away.

The Valley's elections are driven by an internecine political machine with a long history of corruption. Candidates lean heavily on politiqueras, who charge campaigns to turn out voters. His campaign has prided itself on doing things differently, and in the primary O'Rourke apparently declined to use them.

I asked whether he has any plans to use politiqueras for the general election. “We're getting behind those who are volunteering their time to knock on doors. There are some neighborhoods where the residents there don't have the luxury to knock on doors on a Saturday. They're working their second job or their third job,” he says. “If we can find paid staff in those neighborhoods who are gonna be able to knock on doors, who know their neighbors, we'll do that as well.”

O'Rourke hangs off to the side with volunteers from El Paso before his speech in Laredo. Justin Miller

Vicente Martinez, a local activist and recent graduate of the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, is skeptical of a voting surge around here. “People always call Brownsville and the Valley 'the sleeping giant'” and wonder if now is when it will wake up, he says. “I heard that in elementary school and I heard that after Trump was elected.”

Is Beto doing enough to reach young people? Martinez smiles and points to the venue where the band is still playing. “Tex-Mex conjunto. That's not a millennial thing. … It's a little stereotypical.”

'The greatest candidate of our generation'

A powerful Gulf breeze sweeps through Tony Gonzalez Park, cutting the early morning's humid heat and rustling the palm trees that dot the park. Volunteers sip on coffee and munch on pan dulce as they get ready to hit the streets of Brownsville. Escobar grabs a bullhorn and introduces O'Rourke as “the greatest candidate of our generation.”

This is Day 22 of his relentless 34-day sprint around the state. Dressed in his black skinny jeans and white dress shirt, which he'll wash during a live-streamed laundromat trip a few hours later, O'Rourke delivers an energetic call to action. But the fatigue is evident in the bags forming under his eyes.

After his speech, he heads out to block walk in the surrounding Southmost neighborhood with State Representative Eddie Lucio III, a 39-year-old attorney whose father, Eddie Lucio Jr., serves in the Texas Senate. From there, he stops for a roundtable in Harlingen, eats a Tex-Mex lunch, does his laundry and drives the two hours north to Alice for a town hall.

O'Rourke hopes that an army of volunteers knocking doors will lead him to victory. Justin Miller

Tony Martinez, the Brownsville mayor, says O'Rourke just might have the winning political formula, but admitted that “he's probably not as known [in Brownsville] as I'd like him to be.” To increase turnout by 15 percent in this county, O'Rourke needs to drive out 25,000 more voters than Democrats did in 2014.

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. is one of the few not wearing a Beto T-shirt - he's facing an election fight in November and sports his own black-and-orange campaign shirt. He says that O'Rourke has injected a sense of urgency into the local politics and is doing the work that Democrats in the area have long neglected to do.

O'Rourke's multiple trips through the Valley seem to be moving the needle, Treviño says, at least a little bit. “I think we're going to surprise a lot of people. I like that we're just creeping up now and not gonna peak too early,” Treviño says.

Blockwalking as a duo in Los Fresnos, a small exurban town 30 minutes north of Brownsville, Treviño and Cameron County Clerk Sylvia Garza-Perez emphasize to residents that Beto is a Democrat and a fronteriza who is against family separations.

Luis Gonzalez, who voted for O'Rourke in the primary, was one of the few people who had heard of the El Paso congressman. Justin Miller

Of those who answer their door, almost no one knows who O'Rourke is, but they politely listen, nod along and promise to vote.

Hanging out in his yard with his boxer, Luis Gonzalez was the only person who knew of O'Rourke, having voted for him in the primary. He's not so sure about any sort of surge and lamented the fact that O'Rourke seemed to focus on the bigger Valley hubs like Brownsville and McAllen. “What about the farm towns? Why isn't Beto coming here?” he asks.

'I don't believe it will happen organically'

At their last blockwalking event on a Monday morning, Escobar and her El Paso volunteers gathered at a park in a nice suburban neighborhood on the northside of McAllen, waiting for local volunteers to show up. Luciano Chano Garza, a local party activist, begins calling up more people to see if they could come out. Celia Hilber, an older woman who recently moved back to the Rio Grande Valley from Alabama, was one of the only other local volunteers there. “I may not be able to give much money, but I can give my time and effort,” she says after taking a team of El Pasoans to blockwalk.

With the help of people like Garza-Perez and Treviño, O'Rourke needs record levels of turnout in Cameron County. Justin Miller

Danny Diaz started Cambio Texas with the sole purpose of increasing turnout in the lower Valley. The group hopes to target about 25 precincts in Hidalgo County - where about a third of the population lives in unincorporated colonias - with especially bad turnout in 2014. But the group is still fledgling and doesn't have much in the way of money to fund a large-scale operation. He's talked to the state Democratic Party, but says they haven't committed any sort of funding.

That leaves O'Rourke's campaign trying to fill in the gaps. He's been running radio ads in the area for a while, opened up two campaign headquarters in the Valley and hired a cadre of local field organizers. But the campaign is still largely relying on volunteers to help with phone-banking and door-knocking.

“I don't believe it's a guarantee that [a border turnout surge] will happen. I don't believe it will happen organically. I don't believe that anger alone will fuel it. But we have one of the two components: an inspiring candidate,” Escobar says. “We need an army of field volunteers knocking on doors and spending the time with those voters who [would otherwise] stay home.”

Infographic sources: 2014 figures from the Texas Secretary of State, 2018 figures courtesy the Texas Tribune.

The post Beto Bets on the Border appeared first on The Texas Observer.

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brainworkindia · 3 years

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5 Time-Saving Small Business Website Tips Digital Marketing Agencies Follow

Running a small business is extremely rewarding, but at the same time, it is quite challenging as well. Anyone who works in a small business knows well how many different things you have to do to complete a variety of daily tasks. Right from monitoring finances to managing staff and handling customer support, all you need to do by yourself. Keeping your website in great shape shouldn't have to take up too much of your attention. Your website should be fun and satisfying that represent your best work and helps you grow your business. There are some things that you can do to save time when it comes to managing and maintaining your website. From automation and content strategy to outsourcing all the technical work, there are a lot of tasks that you can take away from your plate.

We've put together a list of top time-saving tips that will help Digital Marketing Companies optimize your website, resulting in higher sales. We hope you find them helpful.

5 time-saving small business website tips:

1. Work with Professional Developers

The internet is a fast-changing environment. There are always new methods coming out that improve the functionality of a website, which is very exciting and beneficial for your business. Delegation is the biggest time-saving tip for your website's maintenance and development. To save time, consider hiring an agency to handle all your website's daily and monthly technical tasks. Delegating your tasks to an external agency will save money and time for your business in the long run. It also provides you with a team of experts you can rely on.

If you hire a Digital Marketing Services agency, they will manage your site's Security, Backup, Hosting, Themes, Plugins, etc. This way you will not have to worry about anything technical when it comes to your website development. You can trust that your website will be kept secure and up-to-date. Delegating your services will also increase your productivity.

2. Staying with an SEO Consultant

Staying on top of current SEO strategies helps you grow your business. Even when you use the automation tools, learning the basics of SEO to use the tools and checking them regularly can be too time-consuming for business owners. Work with an SEO agency to make sure that you are always up-to-date with the latest SEO Trends. These consultants do everything for you from creating and executing search engine optimization strategies to reporting on how to improve your site's ranking. These agencies also help you understand how your website is performing in the digital world.

3. Create a Content Strategy

If you want to maintain a successful website, you need to focus on writing quality content and avoid the common content marketing mistakes that can impact your business. Most of the websites are aimed at generating leads and improving sales. Your goal should be to develop strong content on topics that your audience is looking for, building a website that attracts visitors. To get better results, you can promote user-generated content as well as guest posts.

4. Use Automation Tools

Automation software is one of the most practical time-saving tools for businesses. Some of the ways automation tools can help a business include are:

· Creating media ideas

· Generating ideas for content

· Monitoring metrics and analytics

· Eliminating repetitive website

These types of tools are specially designed to boost your overall efficiency and increase productivity.

Here are the four automation tools that can help you save time on keeping your site optimized:

a) RankBuddy

This provides you with the most important SEO information about your website. It creates an outreach list through which you can get in touch with influencers who show interest in your content.

b) SEMRush

It will help you to get an overall view of your site's position in various search engines. It also offers competitor analysis and topic research features.

c) Screaming Frog

It is a professional SEO tool that crawls links and tells you the root vulnerabilities of your website.

d) Yoast SEO

It is one of the most popular SEO plugins for WordPress. It helps you do on-page optimization by adding all important meta tags and social media meta descriptions. It helps digital marketers and website owners to choose from various configurations that include a standard setup. It can also automate things like your sitemap, schema markup, and redirects.

5. Use Chatbots

If you have a customer service department, then it's a great idea to automate your responses. The advantage of this is that you save a lot of time by not handling calls that can easily be held with automatic responses. Using chatbots allows you to employ messaging apps to offer appropriate responses that can provide visitors the desired answers. The overall customer service experience improves and saves you time. Keep in mind that for certain business activities, it's important to have an agent take over your conversation.

Conclusion

Having a healthy website that's easy to use is important for your business growth and results in happy employees and happy owners. If you want to improve your workflow and minimize website worries, hire a Digital Marketing Agency in India and see for yourself how much efficient you become.

#Digital Marketing Companies #Digital Marketing Services #Digital Marketing Agency in India

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threadatl · 6 years

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Is the $23mil pedestrian bridge to Mercedes-Benz Stadium really serving Vine City?

Posted by Lauren Welsh | Mar 2, 2018

Does this expensive, elaborate pedestrian bridge being built across Northside Drive to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium really serve the needs of Vine City residents as has been claimed? We don’t think so, and fortunately some Atlanta City Council members, including Vine City’s own representative Councilman Ivory Young, are now asking the same question.

“Some would say the cost to undo what’s been done as far as the design would be astronomical,” said Young at this week’s Transportation Committee meeting. “Well, consider the tens of millions that we’re spending that could otherwise, I would hope, be spent on something of greater urgency, like affordable housing.”

On Wednesday, committee members heard a presentation from Department of Public Works about the under-construction pedestrian bridge that crosses Northside Drive to the Mercedes-Benz stadium, including an argument for the “need” to spend more than $23M to complete construction. The result will be a 700-foot spiraling footbridge that features a “snakeskin” covering and $3 to $4M in fancy lighting. Although no information on the project was provided to committee members ahead of time, Public Works hoped for a vote of approval so it could sail easily through the Atlanta City Council meeting on Monday, March 5.

The City of Atlanta will decide on Monday whether we should spend more than $23M on a pedestrian bridge that crosses four lanes of Northside Drive from the Vine City MARTA station to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Fortunately, some Council Members are asking questions about how this project benefits residents.

An effort to improve connectivity has spiraled out of control

If you’re trying to figure out why we need an elaborate pedestrian bridge to cross Northside Drive, go back to the conversations about how the location of the new Falcons stadium would impact Vine City and English Avenue. The main street that connected Vine City to downtown Atlanta and the rest of the east side of the city was Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Unfortunately for residents, that became the site of the new stadium, and the street was majorly realigned to suit construction. The end result was yet another example of lower-income residents being cut off from the rest of the city by a development project that was not for them. Councilman Young said it best on Wednesday when other Committee members deferred to his knowledge on the district:

“The bridge was birthed out of a desire to right some wrongs over generations where the west side had been severed from downtown — severed with the World Congress Center, severed with the existing Dome, no real connection to the amenities which historically this community [was] accustomed to profiting from. There were streetcars that ran down Magnolia Street through Vine City all the way to the heart of downtown to Peachtree Street…One thing that we had consistently advocated for was improved and increased connectivity. Truth is, a pedestrian bridge of [this] nature should cost a fraction of what it’s been budgeted.”

The fact that Atlanta leaders found it necessary to approve $12.8 million in July 2016 on a bridge to remove people from a public road is frustrating. That the City is considering doubling down on that position to $23 million on Monday is absurd.

At Wednesday’s meeting, DPW Commissioner Johnson admitted that the almost $4M “snakeskin” required a lead time of one year and that they had already ordered it. The Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff Katrina Taylor Parks said that the contract for $23 million had already been approved and that this was simply “an appropriation of funds” based on bond earnings. But last time we checked, bond earnings aren’t free money, and if you ask City Council members about that July vote on the bridge, they’ll say they were told the city would NOT be on the hook for $23 million.

Were the Mayor and former Commissioner Mendoza being transparent about the bridge when it was initially presented?

Some city leaders will tell you that this bridge has been discussed in 52 different public meetings. The problem is that those weren’t 52 community outreach meetings where residents demanded a fancy bridge. And if you look at the Community Benefits Plan that came out of the real community meetings, you’ll notice nowhere a mention of a glitzy pedestrian bridge. Instead you’ll find things like “high-density mixed use on Northside Drive,” Transit-Oriented-Developments at Ashby and Vine City MARTA Stations,” and “improved transportation connectivity.”

Yet the city claims full engagement on a project where residents would say otherwise. When the AJC asked Rev. Anthony A.W. Motley, one of the leaders helping create the Community Benefits Plan for the area, whether this project was for the neighborhoods, he responded strongly that it was not. The AJC quoted him as saying:

“To try and justify the bridge on the basis of a connection to poor people in the community is an insult to everything that we have proposed, particularly as it relates to the Community Benefits Plan. The bridge has nothing to do with the community, and to say that it does shows contempt for the community and a flagrant disregard for the truth.”

Let’s be honest: this bridge is about the Super Bowl, not connectivity

So what exactly is the pressing need to move this bridge so quickly? Katrina Taylor Parks made it clear on Wednesday that the fast timeline has nothing to do with Vine City residents and their needs. “There are several events that are coming and we don’t want to have an incomplete bridge that people will be utilizing during that time that represents Atlanta.”

Fortunately, we have some new City Council members asking Public Works hard questions about the need for a $23M bridge to the stadium.

Councilmember Farokhi pushed back, saying, “that doesn’t really ring true to me,” and noting that we recently had a national championship football game here without any need for a bridge at all: “I want to make sure this is for the residents. By comparison, this is a 23+ million dollar bridge. The bridge that went over [285] for SunTrust Park cost $11M. It also includes a BRT lane and a lot of elements that this bridge won’t have.”

That’s right, Atlanta. The city is talking about spending more than twice the cost of the SunTrust stadium’s bridge in Cobb County — which crosses over 8 lanes of controlled-access interstate highway. And we’re doing so on a stadium bridge that crosses only 4 lanes of a city street so that we’ll have something fancy for Super Bowl 2019.

That’s how the City wants to impress out-of-town visitors. Not with our civil rights legacy, our cultural icons, our southern soul food, our urban tree canopy, or our welcoming diverse people. Instead, we believe tourists will think Atlanta is awesome because we have a snakeskin light-up bridge to cross a 4-lane road.

If we want to impress visitors, we should invest in useful sidewalks, a functioning transportation system, our many derelict iconic civil rights locations, and plans to help those experiencing homelessness find a place to live. Tourists don’t love cities because of glitzy projects — like residents, they love cities for their life and culture at the street level.

Right this wrong: contact Atlanta City Council

Reach out to your Council Members before Monday’s 1 pm City Council meetingwhere this $23M bridge will be discussed. Urge them to vote NO on the bridge and support our residents instead of only tourists. Instead, tell them to go back to the residents and the Community Benefits Plan to make sure their needs are truly met. Tearing the bridge down would indeed be expensive, but spending that money on the community instead of Re-open the possibility of the pedestrian walkway on Magnolia Street.

Atlanta City Council Contact Info

Vine City and English Avenue residents, like anybody else, aren’t going to walk up and down a swirling light-up bridge that takes them twice as long just to cross the street. If we truly want to help residents with connectivity, all we have to do is look at the Central Atlanta Progress plan to make street-level improvements up and down Northside Drive — a plan that will help turn a dangerous car sewer into a city street that can serve residents rather than just commuters and tourists passing through alone in cars.

We should also be talking about extending Magnolia Street to downtown as recommended by the Westside Future Fund instead of making it driveway for a stadium parking lot. Combine these ideas with the Georgia Department of Transportation’s work to make Northside Drive a Complete Street for all users and we have a real chance to fix this for daily use, not just for game days. That is where City Council’s focus — and funding — should be, here and everywhere else.

As Young said in Wednesday’s meeting, “We build this bridge and nobody walks on this bridge, shame on us. We’re way out of bounds now. I told Mayor Reed this. I’ve said it to the new mayor.”

Further reading about this bridge

For additional background reading, below are links to several articles about the bridge, as local press and activists have questioned the need for the project.

Article from December 2016 acknowledging that City Council never approved an expenditure of $23M for the bridge: Glitzy Bridge for New Falcons Stadium Could Cost Double What City Said

The City Council ordinance approving the bridge at half the proposed price tag: Read the City of Atlanta resolution

Two weeks later, then-Mayor Reed offered this justification: the bridge will “save lives”: Reed Defends Cost of Pedestrian Bridge to Falcons’ Stadium

Let’s not forget this one from former Commissioner of Planning and Community Development, Mike Dobbins, who called for implementation of Central Atlanta Progress’s much more practical plan — produced in conjunction with PATH Foundation and actual neighborhood input — to create a safer Northside Drive: Baby Steps Across Northside Drive

Or this one from Maria Saporta, also recommending spending that same $23M on street-level improvements. Money to build pricey pedestrian bridge over Northside Drive should be spent at street-level

And finally, Dobbins again questioning the practicality of asking pedestrians to walk 700 feet through a swirling bridge when instead they can simply cross a 4-lane, 70-foot wide road at a traffic signal: A tale of two roofs, a bridge and a widening wealth divide

#atlanta #urbanism #pedestrian bridge #stadium #mercedes-benz stadium #northside drive

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go-redgirl · 4 years

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8 Available Resources for Unemployed Vets Veterans who Don't Have A Job May Be Able To Get Help From These Government and Non-Government options. By Maryalene LaPonsie, Contributor Nov. 1, 2019, at 12:47 p.m.

WHEN RYAN GUINA LEFT the U.S. Air Force in 2006, he'd spent 6.5 years in active service and had extensive experience as an aircraft mechanic. However, that didn't mean he could immediately get a job as a mechanic after his discharge.

"My military training did not give me the certifications (for a civilian job)," he explains. What's more, Guina was ready for a change and wanted to move into a new line of work. He was unemployed for six months before finding a job as a consultant analyzing supply chain logistics for a contractor. Today, he is part of the Air National Guard and runs The Military Wallet, a website he founded to provide personal finance and consumer savings information for military members, veterans and their families.

Each year, approximately 200,000 service members transition to civilian life, according to a 2018 report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Some, like Guina, may find their job won't transfer to the private sector without additional training or certification. Others may discover there simply is no civilian equivalent to their military occupation.

Veterans who find themselves facing a period of unemployment can use the following resources to obtain training, find a job and smooth the transition to civilian life:

Unemployment benefits.

Government career services.

American Corporate Partners.

Veterans Upward Bound.

Warrior Scholar Project.

Veteran career workshops and job fairs.

Networking services.

Local veteran groups.

Unemployment Benefits

Veterans who were on active duty and honorably discharged may receive unemployment compensation for ex-servicemembers.

They may also be eligible for state unemployment benefits. While each state administers its own program, veterans may be able to receive this compensation while going to school for a degree or additional training.

The U.S. Department of Labor sponsors American Job Centers nationwide to help workers find career services nearby. Veterans employment representatives in these offices should be able to assist with understanding eligibility requirements and state rules.

Government Career Services

The U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs both offer career services to veterans. "There are workforce teams out there to help," says Regan Jones, director of the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.

Jones spent 12 years as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps and completed two combat deployments. Based on his personal experience receiving assistance, he encourages veterans not to overlook government programs. "(They've) got a lot of great people doing great and even transformative work," he explains.

Other government career resources can be found online. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management maintains a FedsHireVets website, which provides information on federal employment for veterans. Meanwhile, the "My Next Move for Veterans" program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor and provides career exploration information, and states may have their own programs and websites as well.

"It's a bit like a treasure hunt in some ways," Guina says. However, to make it easier to find needed services, the government-sponsored Veterans.gov acts as a clearinghouse to connect veterans to relevant websites.

American Corporate Partners

There are also a number of non-government resources for unemployed veterans. American Corporate Partners is one of them. The organization provides free yearlong mentorships that are intended to help service members achieve civilian career goals. Veterans must apply for the program; once admitted, each veteran is matched to a mentor who aligns with his or her career interests and professional history.

"The program allows employee mentors to share their career development knowledge and working expertise of corporate America with veterans," explains Jim O'Neill, senior manager for strategic talent outreach at Raytheon, a technology and innovation company that participates with American Corporate Partners.

Veterans Upward Bound

The Veterans Upward Bound program is available at select colleges and universities across the country. Free to qualified veterans, the program helps demystify military education benefits, offers refresher courses and tutoring and provides career counseling, among other services.

While the program is housed at colleges, veterans don't need to be enrolled at those institutions to take advantage of Veterans Upward Bound services. "Most of the veterans we serve don't end up going to RIT," says Rachel Mathews, director of the Veterans Upward Bound program at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Part of the program's goal is to help veterans understand all their education and training options. Mathews says, "Going into a four-year bachelor degree program isn't always the right fit for a veteran."

Warrior-Scholar Project

The University of Notre Dame is one of more than a dozen prestigious universities that participates in the Warrior-Scholar Project. The free program offers a one- to two-week academic boot camp to veterans who are transitioning from the military to higher education.

"We want to be beacons of hope for those who have served or are serving," Jones says. Veterans selected to participate are mentored by successful student veterans and attend lectures, workshops and tutoring classes to help them prepare for college success. Yale University, Harvard University and Texas A&M are a few of the other host institutions.

Veteran Career Workshops and Job Fairs

Some companies offer their own support services for veterans. "Raytheon sponsors workshops across the country for veterans focused on resume building, mock interviewing, networking tips and assistance with job search tools, including LinkedIn," O'Neill says. In 2019 alone, the company has been involved in approximately 200 military recruiting events.

Websites such as RecruitMilitary.com and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's HiringOurHeroes.org let service members and veterans search for career events in their area. They may also have digital services, such as resume builders, that can be useful for job seekers.

Networking Services

Networking online through sites like LinkedIn or in-person at career fairs can help veterans make connections that lead to jobs. However, informal networking channels can be just as important, particularly for helping veterans adjust to civilian life. These may include local sports teams, veteran groups such as the American Legion or community nonprofit organizations.

"The post-military transition can be difficult on an emotional level," Guina says. Service members who have spent years in a highly structured environment working as part of a team may struggle to adapt to the less-defined roles they have as a civilian. Participating in volunteer or social activities can provide unemployed veterans with an outlet to do something meaningful while also making connections that could help with their job search.

Once hired, some companies offer employee groups to support their veteran workers. At Raytheon, that group is the Raytheon Employee Veterans Network. It provides veteran employees the chance to collaborate, participate in mentorship programs and support other service members, O'Neill says.

Local Veteran Groups

In addition to national programs, veterans are served by a patchwork of local organizations. For instance, Vets' Community Connections provides services in San Diego, Phoenix and South Bend, Indiana. Meanwhile, the Veterans Outreach Center offers free services to veterans in the Rochester, New York area.

"Every state and every community is different," says David Oliver, outreach specialist with the Veterans Upward Bound program at RIT and a 34-year veteran of the U.S. Army and New York Army National Guard. To find resources in your area, search the internet for the local veterans groups, or if your community has a 2-1-1 information line, call that number to be connected to appropriate service organizations.

While these resources can all help veterans find a job, it won't always be a quick or smooth process. "It's going to be a journey," Jones says. "Approach it with humility and patience."

Maryalene LaPonsie, Contributor

Maryalene LaPonsie has been writing for U.S. News & World Report since 2015 and covers topics ... READ MORE

Tags: careers, veterans, money, Applying, unemployment

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mattved · 5 years

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On blogging, again

Everybody makes a mistake from time to time, and the junction came where I gotta admit belonging to that exact domain. My blog went through about as many changes in platform as it had posts. (Everybody sometimes exaggerates, right?)

So I am here today to give an account on journey of my content across individual platforms, outlining their upsides and downsides and ranting about my fuckups leading to choosing them.

The Beginnings: Blogger

One of the most popular blogging platforms of the 90s offered two gates of entrance to your Google-hosted website: Hitting an URL, either name.blogger.com or your own domain, and being discovered through hub of all Blogger articles, featuring the most popular favorite-tag-relevant along a fulltext search. Both obviously played role in googlability and building an on-line brand.

It seemed to work for a while. I was getting units of traffic from people and crawler hits every now and then. With keywords including my name and username, I slowly made it to the first page of results in Search and DuckDuckGo, pushing the pamphlet article about a person of my name dying at the age to the second, and enabling to compete with identically named photographer for #1. The latter, I unfortunalely did not make. And am obviously mad about it.

The problem was that Blogger lacks some cool features of the modern web. To this day, you are limited to a raw/wysiwyg HTML editor, forced to do more clicking than real writing. Uploading images was a completely separate activity from the writing process and involved browsing filesystems three times before inserting one into the article.

Besides, people no longer visit the article hub, making it useless for anything than that SEO aspect mentioned earlier, and professing the site's backend obsolescence with the a searchbar included along the top edge by default. Of course you can hide it through creation of custom theme including a CSS tweak, but that is just more hassle. Besides, you are not really allowed to do much other than raw CSS to manipulate the site's looks. And the loading times of some articles were just horrible, especially when the engine attempted to apply analytics tools on embeded content, often causing its failures to even load.

And even though Blogger was my big love for the early posts and I stayed for almost 9 months with it, these aspects had driven me elsewhere. Somewhere I was in control of both my content, looks, and structure of the homepage.

The Techie Period: Webhosting

I had rented a cheapo webhost my friend and I had been using for ages as a platform for our various PHP projects the history of which ran all the way to our sweet boarding school development sessions, which were known throughout the staff hierarchy and occassionaly lifted the curfew imposed on us by the system.

Since I was now able to do whatever I wanted with the whole base, many experiments were done and a lot learned in the process. I even made a switch to self-hosting everything on my very own BananaPi webserver, gaining a lot of sysadmin skills.

May I write, please? Wordpress

So many people love wordpress, since there is a massive ecosystem around it, with so many commercially available themes, wonderful plugins, and an open-source base. But I was not overly excited about having somebody else's work showed off on my little personal site. I wanted to build my personal brand and allow myself to be actually proud of it.

But the time it takes even a fairly skilled webbie to get into the zipped-theme format with about as many files as a fresh core linux installation has is not the shortest. And the tweaks always seemed to break whatever I was trying to customize. I sure could've had a blog in no time, but getting to something I'd be happy with was a question of becoming fairly expert in the wordpress ecosystem, which is honestly not worth it, unless you wanna capitalize on it as soon as you can. Besides, there is no certainty in how long such profession would remain relevant. And there is all the Filipinos beating you in sales.

Wordpress is really not for you if you want to give individualist impression. After about a month, I deleted the folder.

This is actually fun! Anchor CMS

Real perfection for those who know pure PHP and want to build a unique site really quickly. It is also where I first encountered markdown outside of GitHub. And it had been my platform for over a good year and a half.

But my audience disappeared entirely. The search engine performance remained, true that, but that was about it and it seemed that some social network marketing was necessary. And even though I do have some outreach on Facebook and Instagram, I consider these to be purely personal devices, that I give public limited access to. So in spite of my general satisfaction with the workings of my wonderful brown colored design featuring many elements enriching the text, I now understand that this alone just won't cut it. And maintaining the website along with a different platform is just not something I have time to do.

So long, my love. I'll pull you out once I'm famous enough. I'll rebuild you on something less outdated than Anchor.

Taking it seriously: Medium

The problem here is that I rarely react to immediate news. Because I am long-term oriented individual aware of the self-adjusting nature of running averages of almost anything. And it doesn't even need to be on index-based variables. Because yes, I do believe that all functional relationships have some sort of equilibrium. Logical or strictly endogenous.

Besides, Medium is filled with... well, media. Wide-readership accounts shitposting five times a day in order to maintain audience, especially of those behind the paywall, who may even consider that the media they are paying for through means other than advertizing are more reliable as a source of infromation.

Yes, I went through the grind of migrating my entire blog to this site, copy-pasting almost everything and adhering to that non-markdown article editor, which made me feel well in the very beginning. It made it a no-bullshit platform after all.

I even wrote one medium-exclusive post, which is never gonna be on Tumblr as I managed to delete it along with my entire account days after doing all the hard work.

Medium is a great concept badly executed. Adios.

Terminal station: Tumblr

At least so far. I may be giving up on fully custom theme for a short time or I may be on a retreat. I may have decided to use an exclusively ad-based platform (at least I can remove ads on my personal tumblr, if not in the feed.

I don't like that there is very little original content on here, but I might soon benefit from reblogs. I don't plan to reblog a lot myself, unless I find a post to be five-star. But I will always like whatever feels appropriate and amazing. And I am always happy to stay in touch with any number of followers. Because some audience is better than massive audience. And I can get at least some feedback here. Hit me, guys. I'm posting for my own benefit and hope somebody will take time to read and reflect on what I am about to post here.

I even plan to switch back to the slightly more interesting topics, showing off my knowledge and passing it on.

Wish me luck ^^

#blogging #tech #platforms #blogger #wordpress #medium #tumblr #upsides #reflection

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dailykhaleej · 4 years

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Royals new owner patiently awaiting rescheduled opening day

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The morning dawned vivid and sunny over Kauffman Stadium, simply to the east of downtown Kansas Metropolis. The outfield grass was a superbly manicured ocean of inexperienced, the infield dust brushed as if by a fine-toothed comb. Within the air was a pervasive feeling of spring, of hope and alternative and new beginnings.

All that was lacking was the crack of a bat and the sound of leather-based hitting a mitt.

This was alleged to be the primary opening day for the Kansas Metropolis Royals underneath new owner John Sherman, the achievement of a lifelong ambition for the native businessman. He had bought the membership late final 12 months from longtime owner David Glass, and the previous season ticket-holder was trying ahead to seeing his rebuilding franchise on the sector.

As a substitute, the stadium sat empty because the outbreak of the new coronavirus brings sports activities to a standstill, and amid the persevering with uncertainty whether or not baseball will likely be performed in any respect this season.

“We want that we have been taking part in baseball at the moment,” Sherman advised The Related Press in an electronic mail, “however we’re rightly prioritizing different issues for the larger good. We’re targeted on preserving our folks protected — our households, our associates, our gamers and coaches and our followers. We additionally need to be current in our neighborhood serving to those that want it probably the most.”

So reasonably than giving followers a few hours of leisure — reasonably than Salvador Perez throwing out a runner, Alex Gordon making a diving seize in left area, Adalberto Mondesi ripping a double into the hole — the membership spent opening day launching the Royals Reply initiative to assist the Kansas Metropolis neighborhood take care of the virus outbreak.

The Royals created an internet site together with The College of Kansas Heath System that gives pointers on hygiene and slowing the speed of transmission. Their charitable arm has developed a fund to assist native nonprofits caring for these affected by the COVID-19 disaster, and grants supported by followers will likely be given to Harvesters, The Group Meals Community, Don Bosco Heart’s Meals on Wheels program, and a myriad different meals pantries and neighborhood outreach organizations.

A number of gamers have gotten in on the motion, too. Perez filmed a public service announcement that encourages followers to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” whereas they’re washing their fingers. New supervisor Mike Matheny, who was trying ahead to opening day as a lot as anybody, joined a number of different gamers in a sequence of PSAs.

“Clearly you begin seeing a few of the different issues which have been canceled,” Matheny stated, “and that’s going to impact plenty of totally different folks in plenty of totally different areas. It’s important to additionally notice individuals are attempting to do the appropriate factor and with that in thoughts, it’s laborious to go down the street too far. We’re going to do the appropriate factor for everybody concerned.”

For now, which means placing baseball on maintain for one thing way more essential.

Main League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred just lately introduced every large league membership has dedicated $1 million to assist help hundreds of ballpark staff who would have spent Thursday promoting sizzling canine and beer and different souvenirs. Most are paid on a per-game foundation, and which means any lower within the schedule would imply a major lack of earnings.

“It’s a whole effort,” Royals normal supervisor Dayton Moore stated. “From a united baseball entrance, we’re all doing every thing we are able to to assist what commissioner Manfred has carried out at this time limit.”

Manfred stated in an interview Wednesday he hopes baseball can start making ready for an abbreviated season sooner or later in Might. However pinpointing a date stays not possible as executives stroll a tremendous line between beginning as quickly as doable — every day missed means hundreds of thousands in misplaced income — and as quickly as consultants decide that it’s protected.

Within the meantime, there are dozens of different particulars to work out: whether or not gamers who’re set to be free brokers after 2020 are nonetheless granted that chance; when the commerce deadline would happen throughout a shortened season; would there be a rise in doubleheaders or a lower in off-days; extending the season into October or November, when climate often turns into a difficulty; and the potential of an expanded playoffs this season.

These are all points that MLB and its gamers’ affiliation try to work out as opening day comes and goes.

“We’re not even going to hypotheticals at this level,” Moore stated. “Proper now we’re simply targeted on what commissioner Manfred indicated, and our gamers are doing very nicely mentally and really nicely bodily, they usually perceive they’ve an ethical accountability, if you’ll, to do what’s proper for our neighborhood.”

Meaning an empty ballpark on what has grow to be an unofficial vacation in America. It means empty parking heaps, replays of previous video games on tv, and an indefinite await Sherman earlier than he can see his very personal staff take the sector.

“After all we — like everybody — need to get again to the sport we love. We look ahead to a new opening day,” the Royals’ new owner stated. “Within the meantime, we’re finishing up our accountability to do the issues that can get us again not simply to baseball however to our lives and to our communities.”

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samanthasroberts · 5 years

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Bernie Sanders’ Supporters Call On Him To Run For President Again

BROOKLYN, N.Y. ― Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) held over 400 house parties in all 50 states and Puerto Rico on Saturday afternoon calling on Sanders to run for president again in 2020.

Sanders maintains that he is still considering whether he is the best person to defeat President Donald Trump.

But Saturday’s show of force, arranged by Organizing for Bernie ― an upstart group founded by Sanders campaign alumni and grassroots activists ― demonstrated one of the senator’s biggest advantages if he decides to return to the ring: a network of supporters already familiar with his message and skilled in do-it-yourself internet organizing.

Speaking to the house parties by livestream, Kat Brezler, a Bronx public school teacher and co-founder of the group People for Bernie, called on the participants to use social media to show Sanders the scale of his support with the hashtag RunBernieRun.

“We need to convince Bernie Sanders to run. He isn’t in this race yet,” Brezler said.

Emphasizing the policy stakes of Sanders’ bid, Brezler added, “We need ‘Medicare for all,’ we need tuition-free college and we need to abolish [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], end mass incarceration, [enact national marijuana] legalization and all of the other reasons why we come to this movement.”

Although Sanders and his campaign team were not directly involved in Saturday’s events, the house parties were co-sponsored by People for Bernie and Our Revolution, the latter group created to carry on the mission of Sanders’ 2016 campaign.

The livestream, which was broadcast by progressive media upstart Act.tv, had attracted over 100,000 views as of Saturday evening.

The broadcast aimed to push back against a narrative developing in the media that Sanders would have difficulty retaining his 2016 staff, as well as to pre-emptively refute questions about the diversity of his staff and surrogates in a hypothetical 2020 run. In addition to Brezler, the speakers included Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, and RoseAnn DeMoro, former executive director of National Nurses United. The discussion also featured contributions from Roy Tatem, the former deputy director of Sanders’ 2016 African-American outreach; Cori Bush, an African-American nurse and former progressive congressional candidate; and Belén Sisa, an undocumented immigrant activist and former member of Sanders’ Latino outreach team.

Tatem, president of the East Valley NAACP in metropolitan Phoenix, argued that a second Sanders campaign would have greater success in reaching the middle-aged and older voters of color who proved so elusive for Sanders in 2016. The senator would no longer struggle to merely establish name recognition with these voters and inform them about his progressive platform, according to Tatem.

“Now everybody knows who Bernie Sanders is and about his program for free college, health care for all and actually dealing with police violence,” he said. “I encourage people to take a look at our racial justice platform in 2016. I’m hoping that we have a campaign so we can really talk about [that].”

As Sanders, 77, deliberates whether to toss his hat in the presidential ring, other Democratic candidates are rapidly jumping into the race.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who would very likely be the field’s second-most progressive contender after Sanders, announced her bid on New Year’s Eve. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) joined the field on Friday. And former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro launched his campaign on Saturday.

Even though Bernie has not announced yet, the opposition certainly has. RoseAnn DeMoro, former executive director for National Nurses United

Meanwhile, Sanders is undergoing scrutiny for complaints that senior figures in his 2016 campaign did not appropriately deal with sexual harassment among campaign staff. Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that some former staffers wanted an opportunity to confront Sanders about the lack of attentiveness to harassment issues, as well as alleged gender pay disparities among the staff. On Thursday, Politico also revealed that Robert Becker, a former top Sanders field staffer, was accused of forcibly kissing a subordinate.

Amid pressure to demonstrate that a 2020 campaign would not repeat the same mistakes, Sanders’ former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, announced Wednesday that he would not be returning in that role for a second run. Sanders has also apologized for the mistreatment of some women and promised that his campaign team has already taken steps to improve.

In Saturday’s livestream, Sanders allies applied a dual approach to addressing the controversy. On the one hand, DeMoro implied that some of the negative stories were the product of ideologically driven efforts to undermine Sanders.

“Even though Bernie has not announced yet, the opposition certainly has,” said DeMoro, one of the only national labor union leaders to back Sanders in 2016. “They’re not trying to take Bernie out; they’re trying to take the movement out.”

At the same time, Sheila Healy, who worked on Sanders’ successful 2018 Senate re-election, told supporters that his campaign had implemented much tougher measures to prevent future workplace issues.

Healy noted that the Senate campaign had created a human resources hotline which employees could use to report harassment without fear of retaliation or discomfort, provided mandatory sexual harassment training to all staff and volunteers, and made sure that the signs explaining the campaign’s anti-harassment policy were posted visibly in all areas.

“I can say with certainty, if the senator does decide to run, these new policies are going to remain in place in 2020,” she said.

We don’t know if they can beat Trump. We pretty much know Bernie can beat Trump. Amber Watson, speaking of other potential Democratic candidates

In Lindsey Ullman and Charles Frantz’s stylish two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, about 20 hardcore Sanders fans gathered to watch the livestream over pizza, beer and LaCroix. Following the recommendations of the livestream organizers, they subsequently discussed strategies for improving on Sanders’ impressive but ultimately failed 2016 performance.

Ullman, a graphic designer, and Frantz, a software engineer, knew only two of the attendees beforehand. The people who had signed up for their gathering through the Organizing for Bernie website now displayed their names and preferred pronouns on name tags.

The crowd skewed younger and whiter with a roughly even gender balance. About half of those present were active in the Democratic Socialists of America, a dues-paying organization that saw its ranks explode in the wake of Sanders’ 2016 run.

Some of the partygoers were convinced that Sanders needed to run because he was the most electable candidate in a head-to-head matchup against Trump.

Referring to other candidates, Amber Watson, a sound engineer, said, “They haven’t run in any presidential elections.”

“We don’t know if they can beat Trump,” she said. “We pretty much know Bernie can beat Trump.”

Referring to 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Russell Whitehouse, a progressive activist and internet entrepreneur, said, “It didn’t work last time. We ran a centrist last time.”

But other attendees simply believed that Sanders is the politician most authentically committed to enacting Medicare for all, free college and the dramatic measures needed to combat climate change.

“What matters is the policies,” said Andy Simpson, a Manhattanite who crossed the East River to attend the party.

Asked about other rumored contenders’ adoption of some of Sanders’ core policy positions, like Medicare for all, Dave Crumbley, a standup comic visiting from Ohio, replied, “It’s lip service.”

“The fact that Bernie is the only candidate who could inspire this kind of gathering says it all,” Ullman said.

Frantz offered one caveat: If Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a former Sanders organizer, were 35 years old ― and thus eligible to serve as president ― she might be capable of generating the same level of enthusiasm.

“If she were 35 years old, this party would be for her,” Ullman interjected. The other partygoers laughed with approval.

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Source: http://allofbeer.com/bernie-sanders-supporters-call-on-him-to-run-for-president-again/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2019/03/31/bernie-sanders-supporters-call-on-him-to-run-for-president-again/

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adambstingus · 5 years